Unedited chapter
37. Robbing the Star Pirate Ship
There were not many star pirates in the Beastman Empire.
The Empire was strong and prosperous; how could it tolerate savage robbers in its territory?
But there were still a number of star pirates. Some of them were criminals; they didn’t want to plead guilty, so they roamed about and robbed the spaceships in the interstellar. Some actually had good identities outside; they secretly robbed others in order to reap without sowing. And there were some who were born as star pirates from the start, living on various undeveloped planets . . . .
There were many origins of star pirates, but no matter which kind of star pirate they were, it was impossible for them to grow too big. After all, just a little bigger, and the military might keep watch on them. In the meantime, they didn't dare to behave unscrupulously.
If they robbed a spaceship and only snatched its belongings, then the Empire would not necessarily spend huge manpower and physical resources to deal with them. But if they dared to kill people or hurt them, or did other cruel things that led to public outrage, the military would definitely attack their old nest in an instant.
For example, Edgar had once annihilated a gang of star pirates who had robbed a good deal of cargo spaceships. They were the descendants of a group of men who had played truant several hundred years ago. At that time, the situation of the Beastman Empire was quite chaotic. There were many private planets that lacked supervision, and these truants suffered severe treatment there. Having reached the end of their patience, they robbed the mineral star’s cargo spaceship and became star pirates. At first, they handled matters with propriety; they only robbed some smuggling spaceships or spaceships coming out of private planets, and on top of that, they didn’t kill anyone. The Empire also didn’t spend much effort to suppress them. As a result, when they replaced their leader a few years ago, they thought they were powerful. Eventually, because they lacked sub-beastmen, they brazenly robbed a cruise spaceship and even killed some beastmen and snatched the sub-beastmen inside.
In the end, those sub-beastman were saved from their capture. Through the military emergency communication channel, Edgar, who knew the whole story, had already led the armed force to eliminate the star pirates.
Other people on the spaceship had never met star pirates, so they were a little afraid. Edgar was truly not particularly worried though . . . . Star pirates who would take a fancy to this dilapidated ship were definitely not very strong. Although Edgar’s spaceship was a cargo spaceship, but before they set off, they had equipped it with lots of weapons. Furthermore, there were soldiers equipped with mechs on the spaceship. It was not difficult at all if they wanted to repel the other party.
But now, Edgar didn't think of repelling the other party.
As soon as Edgar arrived at the cockpit, he looked at the scanned picture of the outside.
Those star pirates were still a bit far from them. It was only an old spaceship of the sentry series, and the reason why Jones knew that they were star pirates . . . was because the star pirate ship voluntarily sent them a message to let them know.
This was also considered to be the star pirates’ customary move. They would send a message to the spaceship they robbed early on and say some threatening words. Once the people in the robbed spaceship got really frightened, they could easily snatch the goods.
"Your Imperial Highness, let us fend off those star pirates!"
"Your Imperial Highness, I have a mech, let me go out and fight!"
"Your Imperial Highness, let me go out and fight too!"
Two hundred soldiers from Gass planet were on the spaceship, and they all looked very eager and excited to fight.
They had never run into real battles after being assigned to Gass planet. At most, they had only caught those fairly lethal animals of Gass planet. Now that they knew they actually had an opportunity to kill some star pirates, one could well imagine how excited they were.
"Don't go out and engage first, wait for them to come over." Edgar said.
"Wait for them to come over and then eliminate them at one stroke?" Jeca couldn't help asking. He was especially excited and couldn't help but feel like turning into his beast form. If it were not for knowing that turning into a beast form when being excited was a display of immaturity, and that he would be teased by all, he surely wouldn’t be able to restrain himself.
"Yeah." Edgar nodded faintly.
Jeca and the other men were even more excited.
Shu Shu simply couldn't understand why they were so excited. It was star pirates, ah! He had never seen any star pirates, but he reckoned they were about the same as the pirates on Earth?
He usually read novels and watch movies, and he was quite fond of those with pirate theme. At one time, he even thought that a certain one-eyed pirate was very handsome. But if he really came across some pirates . . . he would definitely be afraid. He didn’t want to run into any pirates at all, and he certainly didn’t want to get robbed by those pirates!
Edgar was just going to help Shu Shu settle down when he saw Shu Shu looking very scared and on edge. “Shu Shu, you go back and stay in the room. Rest assured, nothing will happen.”
“It’s really nothing?” Shu Shu was still a bit nervous. Although Edgar seemed very powerful, but who knew if there were even more powerful people in this place?
"It’s nothing. I’ll go back with you first." Edgar gently said and then turned towards Jones. "Would Dr. Jones like to accompany Shu Shu?"
"Very well." Jones nodded. Initially, when he came across the star pirates, he was indeed quite afraid, but he was unafraid now. He even wanted to go outside to see. However, considering the current situation, he nevertheless gave up his plan and decided to stay with Shu Shu.
His physical fitness was not comparable to that of the beastman. Although he had some tricks, but was it likely that those star pirates would show their weak points to be shot by his anesthesia needle? He had better not cause trouble for everyone.
Edgar sent Jones and Shu Shu back to Shu Shu’s room and assigned some men to stand guard at the door. To the rest of the soldiers, he ordered: "Once the two spaceships are connected, hide yourself well and wait until the pirates get into the ship to catch them in one fell swoop. Be careful not to let the boatmen get hurt." In fact, let those boatmen confound everyone; it was even more suitable for his next plan. Most of the boatmen were ordinary beastmen, though, so their strength was low, and Edgar naturally wasn’t about to let them take the risks.
"Your Imperial Highness, what about you?" Someone asked.
"I have other works that need to be done." Edgar said.
Having arranged all the people on the scene, Edgar chose an empty room to turn into a prototype, or shrink to the thumb-sized version which Shu Shu had seen before.
Edgar looked at his own tail and once again experienced the wonder of spiritual power.
He didn’t know from which lanes or alleys the little sub-beastman got the cultivation method. It actually allowed him to become bigger or smaller at will . . . . If more people learned this cultivation method, and if those fallen beasts could learn it as well . . . .
It’s certainly too early to think about these things now. He had better have a proper chat with the little sub-beastman once they arrived at the capital star.
At the moment . . . he still had a more important work that needed to be done.
Thinking about it, Edgar looked at his own claws again and then felt that he was still a little too big.
It’s good if he could become a little smaller . . . . Closing his eyes, Edgar began to circulate his spiritual power, and with the circulating spiritual power, he really became smaller in just one cycle. He was only a little bigger than a toothpick now.
Edgar was somewhat unaccustomed to this tiny form, but he knew that with his current appearance, it was definitely very difficult for others to notice him, not to say that he could also use spiritual power to cover his whole body and conceal himself.
Wrapped in a layer of spiritual power, Edgar came to the doorway of their cargo spaceship. Those star pirates hadn’t arrived yet, but there were already plenty of soldiers lying in wait in the vicinity.
At this time, the star pirate ship was approaching.
The captain of the star pirate ship was called Kamille, a snake beastman. He was the leader of this group of star pirates, but he was not the one who established it. Rather, he inherited that position from his father.
The old head of the star pirates had absolute control over the spaceship. Before he died, he gave the control of the star pirate ship to his only son, Kamille. Besides Kamille, no one could start the ship, so it was inevitable and also right that Kamille became the new leader of the star pirate ship.
And this time was the first time Kamille brought his men out for robbery after inheriting the star pirate ship.
He didn't expect that his luck was so good. The first time he came out, he actually saw such an outmoded spaceship. It was a cargo spaceship that no one would care about even if they saw it, so it also didn’t matter if he robbed it!
Seeing that the cargo spaceship did not put out any resistance, Kamille felt extremely happy.
"Captain, we had better be more careful, maybe the other party is bluffing." Someone on the side reminded Kamille.
"Bluffing? Who are they going to bluff? It's just an old cargo spaceship that can't get any older! Maybe this is the smuggling ship of those remote planets. Even if it’s robbed, no one will dare to say anything!"
What Kamille had said was very reasonable. A cargo spaceship like that was unlikely to have the ability to resist . . . . Although there were some of Kamille’s subordinates who faintly felt that something was amiss, but they didn’t say much in the end. Instead, they were all eager to start.
Star pirates didn't have identity cards. They couldn't log on to the star network, and they couldn't go to those flourishing, big planets. In fact, they didn't have a good life; the only thing they had was basically a criminal record. In this lifetime, they could only become star pirates. Even if they wanted to change, they were unable to change . . . .
Now that they could rob a cargo spaceship, maybe they would find a lot of novelties inside . . . . They were naturally very excited.
After the two spaceships were connected, the fully armed star pirates clamored and burst into the cargo spaceship.
Huh? There’s no one?
The star pirates stared blankly for a moment, but as a result, they started to get cautious. However, at this time, even if they were being cautious, it’s already too late . . . .
The star pirates who got onto the ship first were just a group of small bandits. Their strength was so low that even if they were already on guard, they still got captured by the regular troops who were well-coordinated and equipped with many weapons.
Jeress and the rest only spent a little effort to catch all the star pirates who came to their spaceship. After that, they suddenly realized . . . it seemed like they already completed the task that His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince had assigned to them. What should they do next?
They were all slightly at a loss. Right at this moment, another message sent by the star pirates aboard arrived.
"I surrender, I surrender! Don't kill me!" A man's miserable shriek echoed inside both spaceships at the same time. After a while, it became a crying plea. "I really didn't mean it. I won't rob anyone again in the future. I beg you, please, let me go . . ."
Who was he calling out for? Jeress and the others were somewhat curious.
The man who was crying out sounded like their captain, Kamille . . . . The captured star pirates were rather speechless.
Although Kamille’s strength was average, but he was still a four-star beastman. He also had a five-star beastman at his side to protect him. More importantly, he stayed in their spaceship. If someone wanted to go over, they had to pass through layer upon layer of barriers. How could Kamille get caught? How the heck did these people accomplish it?
The star pirates felt extremely depressed while Edgar felt that things simply couldn’t go more smoothly that this.
When the star pirate ship and the cargo spaceship were connected, he sneaked into the star pirate ship and went directly to the most tightly-protected cockpit. Sure enough, he saw the leader of the star pirate ship. After that, he immediately became bigger and captured the man easily . . . .
The star pirates didn’t dare to resist after hearing their leader’s shriek. In fact, under Edgar’s threat, the star pirate leader had discreetly and rightfully used his authority of the star pirate ship to lock up the star pirates who hadn’t gone to the cargo spaceship in their respective cabins, so they also couldn’t resist at all . . . . Jeress and the other men who had tied that first group of star pirates then rushed straight into the star pirate ship and finally saw some star pirates who were beaten unconscious by Edgar. In addition, there was the star pirate leader who was also caught by Edgar.
Everything was totally different from what they had imagined. Shouldn’t these star pirates they encountered want to indulge in playing a game? Why did this incident end so fast?
Also, how the heck did His Imperial Highness rush straight in and catch the star pirate leader?
Jeress and the other men doubted Edgar very much. Of course, following their doubts, they inevitably sighed with emotion—His Imperial Highness was really too amazing!
Edgar naturally didn't know his subordinates’ thoughts. He was now using his tail to push various buttons on this spaceship that belonged to the star pirates.
He removed star pirate leader Kamille’s control over the spaceship, completely sealed many areas on the spaceship, and then knocked out the star pirate leader with his tail and once again used his tail to sweep the unconscious man over to Jeress.
Seeing that Jeress had grabbed the star pirate, Edgar returned to their cargo spaceship and put on some clothes.
The first trip was to the little sub-beastman’s place to tell Shu Shu and Jones that all the star pirates had been caught. Following that, Edgar returned to the star pirate ship along with those two hundred soldiers to catch each and every one of the star pirates and seize all their weapons.
Jeca liked to fight and also liked novels or movies and TV series with this aspect. Although he was a soldier, but his most admired idol in the past was actually the star pirate captain in “Star Pirate King”.
In his mind, star pirates should be heroic and unyielding and very formidable, but now . . . . Seeing the star pirates naked except for their underwears, huddled together and even emitting a stinking odor, he felt that all his fantasies about his idol were shattered.
"How are star pirates like this?" Jeca couldn't help asking.
"How can star pirates not be like this?" Jeress retorted. Star pirates basically drifted about in the interstellar space and occasionally stayed for a time on those undeveloped planets . . . . Even if some star pirates could get along well with people from remote galaxies, the vast majority of star pirates actually lacked quite a lot of things, and frankly, it was also very difficult for them to have a bath.
Speaking of spaceship . . . although the spaceship used by the star pirates was already a hundred years old, but it was still much newer than their several-hundred-year-old cargo spaceship. However, this neglected star pirate ship was very dirty, and Edgar couldn't stand to look at it anymore.
"These guys need to have a bath. Once they’re done bathing, bring them back here." Edgar said. He was familiar with this kind of scene, but he didn't imagine that these people or their spaceship would be so dirty . . . . Nevertheless, this spaceship had windows, and he still intended to have the little sub-beastman come and see the starry sky. In this case, it was definitely necessary to give this place a good clean-up.
After these star pirates were brought onto the cargo spaceship and bathed by the soldiers, everyone's hands were stuffed with the cleaning rags. Then they were ordered to clean their spaceship in an hour, or else they would be thrown out of the spaceship!
Although the soldiers had found several housekeeping robots from the cargo spaceship to help, although there were many star pirates, but wasn’t it too hard to clean up a spaceship in an hour?
The star pirates were speechless. They felt suffocated, but they simply didn’t dare to resist and could only work hurriedly.
Kamille had been beaten unconscious before, but now he was already awake. Holding a cleaning rag and a bucket, he began the first big cleaning of his life with a sullen face. "Who the hell are these people? Operating a beat-up spaceship to trick us. Aren’t they ashamed?" How was it possible that someone who operated such a shabby cargo spaceship was so powerful he could completely ignore the defenses on their spaceship? From the start, these people had deliberately set them up, right?
"If my eyes aren’t wrong, the leader of these men is the Crown Prince Edgar." A man beside Kamille said.
"You . . . what did you say?" Kamille looked at the man in shock.
"Haven’t you seen what Edgar looks like? You should be able to see that the man looks just like Edgar, right?" The man turned towards Kamille.
"I thought it’s only a little similarity. And what about his beast type? It’s not a snake."
"If a beastman of the Imperial family awakens the bloodline, he will become like that." The man said again while scrubbing the wall briskly.
"Why the great crown prince would still make life difficult for me . . ." Kamille was extremely distressed, and then he was hauled up by a soldier and given a whip. The soldier who hauled him up barked angrily: "You hurry up and work! Don't be lazy!"
Feeling aggrieved, Kamille started to work.
Seeing Kamille like this, the man who had talked to Kamille before sighed. If he had known earlier that he only needed to capture and threaten Kamille to make him hand over control of the spaceship, he definitely would’ve attacked and taken possession of the spaceship already!
Anyway, even if he was the one controlling the spaceship, if he saw this cargo spaceship, he reckoned he would still go and rob it. At that time, it was inevitable that he would also go down to the present position . . . .
But, what the hell was with this crown prince? He actually made them wash the spaceship until squeaky clean . . . .
After an hour, Edgar gave the spaceship a thorough inspection and also manipulated his spiritual power to produce water to re-wash several windows on the spaceship. Finally satisfied, he then called Shu Shu to come. "If you want to see the starry sky, you can see it from here."
"Excellent!" Shu Shu leaned forward onto the window, looking at everything outside with wonder.
He really didn't expect that as a little hamster, he actually had a chance to lift off and fly into space!
Shu Shu felt that he was not an ordinary hamster anymore. He was definitely a hamster who had seen the big world now!
Well, everyone in this world had seen the big world, so he actually wasn’t that awesome . . . .
His disciple was great, though. "Edgar, you’re really amazing! I said I wanted to see the starry sky, and you make it happen. "
The corner of Edgar’s mouth hooked up slightly.
Jeress and the others were left speechless. They were very curious before. They didn’t understand why His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince would suddenly want to rob this star pirate ship. As it turned out, it was to please the sub-beastman?!
His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince was indeed amazing. His means of pleasing the sub-beastman were actually so high-level . . . . They had to learn some, so they didn’t have to worry about not being able to find a sub-beastman in the future!
Shu Shu pulled Edgar close to watch the starry sky for a long time. Seeing Shu Shu watch several planets from a distance, Edgar specially told the spaceship operator to approach them, which made Shu Shu clutch Edgar's arm in excitement.
Although Shu Shu had already traveled in the spaceship for several days, but only now did Shu Shu vividly feel that he had flown into space and arrived in the universe.
At the same time, not far away, another spaceship discovered the situation in this corner and saw two spaceships that were still connected together and slowly moving forward.
"Captain, there’re two spaceships in front!"
"One of them is Kamille’s. His dad has just died several days ago, and he’s already gone out to rob someone. He even managed to rob a cargo spaceship. His luck’s actually pretty good."
"Captain, Kamille’s guys have no skills. Now they’ve just robbed a cargo spaceship, I think their situation is still chaotic. Are we going to . . ."
Not sure whether Edgar’s luck was good or bad, but this spaceship was also a star pirate ship.
Currently, the star pirates on this star pirate ship were giving the captain some ideas, one after another. After the captain listened to his jabbering subordinates, he showed a smug expression. "Aren’t we here today for that Kamille guy?"
Kamille’s father was dead, while Kamille himself didn’t have any prestige . . . . This was absolutely the best time to swallow his group of star pirates . . . . It was indeed for the spaceship in Kamille’s hand that the captain brought his subordinates here.
In contrast to Kamille, this leader of a group of star pirates did not connect his spaceship as soon as he came up. His spaceship was better than Kamille’s, and his equipped weapons were also above average. After he showed up, he launched a few missiles toward Kamille’s spaceship.
The missiles left some marks on Kamille’s spaceship, and the whole spaceship shook. At the same time, the sound of Kamille’s loud surrender was transmitted . . . .
"That guy Kamille is a weakling!" The leader of a group of star pirates said disdainfully and let his subordinates go over to receive Kamille’s spaceship.
Spaceship connected, his ruthless subordinates rushed forth into Kamille’s spaceship. Then they saw that Kamille and the other pirates wore thin clothes and had already removed their weapons while waiting to surrender at the doorway of the ship’s hold.
"Kamille, you did the right thing, ah. You guys must’ve already thought about seeking refuge in us, right?" The star pirate who walked into Kamille’s spaceship laughed heartily. Another man even taunted Kamille: "Haha, Kamille, you clean up nicely just like a sub-beastman. Your spaceship’s also spick and span. Now I know that you’ll make a good wife . . . . Why don’t you become my sub-beastman wife? I’ll definitely treat you well!"
Kamille shook with anger, but after thinking of something, he was not angry anymore and looked at the man with sympathy instead.
Just as expected, after a while, the voice of the leader of this star pirate group was broadcasted.
This leader did not shamefully beg for mercy like Kamille had done; he only said: "Men of Blazing Flame star pirate group, quickly put your weapons down. Our spaceship has already been captured by others."
The star pirate who had just taunted Kamille was mystified. They were just about to capture other people’s spaceship, ah. How could their own spaceship suddenly get captured in reverse? He still couldn’t think clearly when a group of regular troops rushed out from nowhere. Some of them even wore mechs!
Damn! They fell into an ambush!
On the other hand, Edgar, who used all the skills he had practiced on board the cargo spaceship these days, spiritedly beat more star pirates unconscious and captained another star pirate ship.
After discovering that this star pirate ship was more advanced than the sentry series, Edgar once again made those star pirates come to clean the spaceship. Besides, on the following journey, he planned to use this spaceship to open up the path while Kamille’s spaceship brought up the rear, and then the cargo spaceship would be towed in the middle to hasten their way to the capital star.
In this way, their speed could be much, much faster, and they would be able to reach the capital star in several days.